Door latch



Feb. 28, 1961 L. c JOHNSON 2,973,215

DOOR LATCH Filed 001;. 31, 1957 5 w a ///////////////Vw Q xx INVENTOR! Zaycl (Z, fi/zzzsozz B 62% 2 2 4 DOOR LATCH Loyd C. Johnson, 191 Dickens Road, Northfield, Ill. Filed Oct. 31, 1957, Ser. No. 693,624

Claims. (Cl. 292-79) This invention relates to a combined door stop and holder of the type having separable elements adapted to be secured in part to a floor or wall and in part to the bottom region of the door.

There is presently available a combined door stop and holder which functions to limit the degree of opening of a door and also to hold the door open at the set degree of opening. In such device, if the stop is operative, the holder is likewise operative so that whenever the door is opened sufiiciently to engage the stop, it is held in such open position. It is at times desirable, however, not to have the door held open at the door stop automatically, as, for example, when one going through the door has both hands full and desires the door to swing shut after him, or to prevent children from carelessly leaving the door open in inclement weather.

It is the object of this invention therefore to provide a combined door stop and holder wherein the holding action is controllable so that it can be made automatically effective or inelfective at will.

More specifically, it is the object of this invention to modify an existing automatic door stop and holder to incorporate a control on the holder mechanism thereof which in one position locks the holder in inoperative position without interfering with the door stopping operation, and in another position allows the holder to operate to hold the door open.

It is a specific object of this invention to provide a controllable door holder wherein the control may be operated only by a special tool to prevent tampering with the control by unauthorized persons.

It is also among the objects of this invention to provide a controllable door holder which, when adjusted to eliminate the door holding function, is fool-proof, will not be jarred loose when in door holding condition by violent contact with the door stop, and which does not alter the appearance nor construction of at least one form of previously available combined door stop and holder.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which,

Figs. 1 and 2 are, respectively, side and front elevations of a combined door stop and holder constructed in accordance with this invention shown in installed condition;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a modification of the combined door stop and holder of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section on an enlarged scale of the door stop and holder of Fig. 2 taken along the line 44 thereof;

Fig. 5 is a section corresponding to Fig. 4, but showing the door stop in another condition of operation;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary front elevation in section of the door holding mechanism taken along line 66 of Fig. 4;

t Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevation of the roller, roller arm and cam used in the mechanism of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary front elevation in section of 2,973,215 Fatented Feb. 28, 1961 the control for the door holder of Fig. 3, the section being taken along a line corresponding to line '8-8 of Fig. 5 and showing the Fig. 3 form of manual operator; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the cam mechanism employed in the door holder of the preceding figures.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of the invention and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown a fragment-of a door 10 and an adjacent frag ment of a floor 11 over which the door is adapted to swing. Secured to floor 11 is a door stop element 12 and secured to door 10 is a cooperating door stop element 13.

Said door stop element 12 is comprised in general of a single piece casting having a fiat and relatively wide base 14 of any suitable configuration provided with fasteners 15, 16 on either side and 17 at the middle front, said fasteners being of the type appropriate for the floor to which the stop is to be secured. Thus, the fasteners may be ordinary wood screws if the floor is relatively soft to receive such screws and alternatively may be a machine screw with an expansion sleeve (not shown) of known construction for use with cement or stone floors.

To the rear of base 14 and facing door 10 is an upright abutment 18 having a rear wall 19, an upwardly sloping cam surface 20, a slightly downwardly sloping surface 21 and a downwardly and then rearwardly curved latching surface 22. The sides of the upright abutment 18 as shown in Fig. 2 are downwardly curved as shown at 23 and 24 to merge or blend into the upper surface 25 of the base 14.

Y The cooperating door stop element 13 is comprised of a body 26 preferably made of matching cast metal and having substantially parallel sides 27, 28 connected by a smoothly rounded end and top wall 29. Said stop element 13 is provided with laterally extending attaching lugs 30 and 31 which are designed to lie flat against the door 10, as is also the end of the top wall 29, to.

provide an enclosure for the mechanism within. A

plurality of screws or other fasteners 32 passing through suitable apertures in the attaching lugs 30 and 31 serve to secure the element 13 to the door.

Lugs 39 and 31 are connected together at the bottom of the element 13 by a plate 33, preferably formed integrally with the lugs and the element 13. Said plate 33 may take any desirableform, but is shown for purposes of illustration as a substantially rectangular plate which lies flat against the door and to which is secured by screws 34-or the like a rubber pad 35; Said pad 35 is designed to strike the rear wall 19 of the upright abutment 18 and to absorb the shock of stopping the door abruptly.

Within door stop element 13 is a pivoted roller latch 36 in the form of a yoke having spaced ears 37 through which passes a pivot pin 38 secured to the sides- 27, 28 of element 13. At the opposite end of latch 36 from ears 37 and extending downwardly from the general plane of the yoke of which the latch 36 is comprised are spaced supporting arms 39 (Fig. 6) between which is disposed a roller 40. A pin 41 passes through supporting arms 39 and serves as a shaft on which roller 40 is freely rotatable. A helical spring 42 within element 13 is compressed between an abutment 43 on element 13 and the upper surface 44 of latch 36 to exert a continuous force downwardly on the latch. Said spring 42is held against movement relative to its abutments 43 and 44 by lugs 45 and 46.

It is contemplated that roller 40 will extend downwardly out of the abutment 13 and into the path. of movement.

3 against the restraining action of spring 42 until it rides over the downwardly sloping surface 21, and thereafter will descend until it drops off surface 21 and behind surface 22 tohold the door against return movement. The space between roller itland rubber member 35 is only Slightly larger than the horizontal distance between front wall 19 and surface 22 so that just as soon as the roller falls off cam surface 21, the rubber pad 35 will strike the front wall 19 to arrest further movement of the door. A rebound off front wall 19 is prevented by roller 40 held down by spring 42 which it would be necessary to overcome were the roller to ride back upwardly over surface 21. f

The vertical disposition of roller 40 relative to surface 21 is determined by a stop member 47 secured to rotate with a horizontal shaft 48 extending through the sides 27 and 28. Said stop'member 47 is in the form of a cam having a fiat surface 49 (Fig. 9) on its upper side adapted to cooperate with a similar flat surface 50 in the underside of the body 51 of latch 36 to support the latter in. its lowermost position. At the end of cam surface 49 is another and smaller flat surface 52 which is likewise adapted to cooperate with flat surface 50 to raise latch 36 and its roller 40 above the highest point on abutment 18. Said surface 52 is so disposed relative to latch 36 and shaft 4-8 that when surface 52 cooperates with surface 50 as shown in Fig. to hold the latch in its elevated position, the stop member 47 is in a substantially dead center relationship with respect to shaft 48 and hence the latch will remain in its elevated position as long as stop member 47 is likewise in such elevated position. This dead center relationship is brought about by the fact that surface 59 is radially disposed with reference to the center of rotation of latch 36, and surface 52 is normal to a radius from the center of rotation of stop member 47, with contact between the two surfaces 50 and 52 extending to, and slightly beyond, the radius from the center of stop member 47. Under these circumstances, the direction of thrust of spring 42 is immaterial as long as there is available a component of such thrust acting radially of the center of stop member 47. When the stop member is in its lowered position as shown in Fig. 4, latch 36 is fully operative to hold door against abutment 18. In its lowered position, stop member 47 is provided with clearance 53 to prevent interference with normal movement of roller 4-6.

The position of stop member 47 is controlled from the exterior of the body 26 by a small lever 54 (Fig. 3) pinned as at 55 to shaft 48 so that movement of the lever 54 is transmitted directly to shaft 48 and thence through a pin 56 to stop member 47. The lever 54 may be supplied with the combined door stop and holder where the latter is installed in a building not ordinarily subject to vandalism and in which it is relatively immaterial whether the door holding function at any given instant is operative or not.

As shown in greater detail in Fig. 8, shaft 48 is held against endwise movement with respect to parallel sides 27 and 28 by enlargements at either end, one enlargement 58 being in the form of a tapered upset head and the other enlargement 57 comprising the protruding end of the shaft over which lever 54 is assembled and to which it is pinned.

In Fig. 6 is shown a modification of the control means for shaft 48, said modification being used in those buildings where it is essential that the management controls at all times the elfectiveness of the door holding function. The shaft on which the latch 36 is mounted is shown at 59 and is provided at one end with a tapered upset end 60, the other end being an enlarged cylinder 61 formed to receive an Allen wrench. Thus, the form shown in Fig. 6 can be manipulated only by one having an Allen wrench, a device which is not normally carried by the average person.

flhe combined door stop and holder in both forms described above is no larger than similar devices heretofore available and yet provides a controllable door holding function not found on those devices. The control may be readily accessible at all times as in the Figs. 3 and 8 form, or it may be accessible only with a special tool as in the Figs. 1, 2 and 6 form. In either form, when the control is set to prevent door holding function, it is unafiected by the jarring occasioned by an abrupt stop ping of the door.

I claim:

i. A door latch for attachment to the exterior of a door, said latch comprising a housing having a plate in contact with the door and extending downwardly to contact a fixed abutment, spaced sides on the housing, a hinge pin supported by the sides, a latch member pivoted on said pin and comprising an arm extending outwardly from the pin, means on the arm adapted to be contacted by said fixed abutment, resilient means in the housing acting upon the arm to rotate said arm downward into engagement with the fixed abutment, means on the housing interposed in the path of movement of the arm toward the abutment and shiftable to a first position wherein the means on the arm can contact the fixed abutment and to a second position wherein the means on the arm cannot contact the fixed abutment, and interengaging cam surfaces on the shiftable means and arm arranged normal to the line of thrust from the resilient means when the shiftable means is in its said second position such that the position of said shiftable means is independent of the pressure of the resilient means.

2. A door latch for attachment to the exterior of a door, said latch comprising a housing, a latch member pivotally mounted in said housing and comprising an arm adapted to extend out of the housing to contact a fixed abutment, resilient means in the housing continuously. acting upon the arm to urge it out of the housing into engagement with the abutment, means on the housing interposed in the path of movement of the arm toward the abutment and shiftable to a first position wherein the arm can contact the fixed abutment and to a second position wherein the arm is held out of contact with the abutment, and interengaging cam surfaces on the shiftable means and arm arranged normal to the line of thrust from the resilient means when the shiftable means is in its said second position, such that the position of said shiftable means will be independent of the pressure of the resilient means.

3. A door latch for attachment to the exterior of a door, said latch comprising a housing, a latch member pivotally mounted in said housing and comprising an arm adapted to extend out of the housing to contact a fixed abutment, resilient means in the housing continuously acting upon the arm to urge it out of the housing into engagement with the abutment, means on the housing interposed in the path of movement of the arm toward the abutment and rotatable to a first position wherein the arm can contact the fixed abutment and to a second position wherein the arm is held out of contact with the abutment, and interengaging cam surfaces on the rotatable means and arm arranged to cause the thrust of the resilient means to pass through the pivot of the rotatable means when the said rotatable means is rotated to its said second position.

4. A door latch for attachment to the exterior of a door, said latch comprising a housing, a latch member pivotally mounted in said housing and comprising an arm adapted to extend out of the housing to contact a fixed abutment, resilient means in the housing continuously acting upon the arm to urge it out of the housing into engagement with the abutment, a pin pivoted in said housing, a cam mounted on said pin and rotatable about the axis of the pin, said cam being disposed in the pathof' movement of the arm toward the abutment and rotatable to a first position wherein the arm is held out of contact with the abutment, and'interengaging flat surfaces on the cam and arm and disposed to be substantially in contact with one another and normal to the line of thrust from the resilient means to the pin when the cam is in its second position.

5. A door latch for attachment to the exterior of a door, said latch comprising a housing, a latch member, a pivot pin in the housing, said latch member comprising a yoke having at one end ears pivotally mounted on said pivot pin and at its other end a roller for engaging a fixed abutment, resilient means in the housing continuously acting upon one side of the yoke to turn it on its pivot pin to cause the roller to extend out of the housing into engagement with the abutment, a second pin in the housing and mounted with its axis substantially parallel with the axis of the first mentioned pin, a cam mounted on said pin for rotation therewith, said cam being disposed in the path of movement of the yoke and rotatable to a first position wherein the roller contacts the abutment and to a second position wherein the roller is held out of contact with the abutment, and interengaging surfaces on the cam and yoke and disposed to produce a thrust on the cam from the resilient means which passes through the second pin, whereby to cause the latch to remain in said second position independently of any exterior forces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 445,992 Habliston Feb. 10, 1891 650,812 Tyson May 29, 1900 1,596,451 Rawlings Aug. 17, 1926 1,708,444 Hampton Apr. 9, 1929 2,327,298 Wyckotf Aug. 17, 1943 

